The delegation explored Palestinian and Israeli efforts to achieve peace with justice and delved into issues of detention and incarceration, the Israeli military court system, and political prisoners.

This delegation was Eyewitness Palestine's 62nd, successfully exposing more than 1,200 people to the daily realities facing Palestinians in their quest for justice.

We believe in the power of eye-witness experience and transformation. Given the opportunity to speak directly with Palestinians and Israelis, delegates return to the United States better informed, more energized, and with a deeper understanding of the possibilities for true justice in the Middle East.

Photos From the Delegation

Truly a pleasure to see so many @eyewitnesspalestine delegates from all over North America come together for the @uscpr National Conference!
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Before the events even kicked off, we ran into this bunch from @eyewitnesspalestine Delegation #61 in May 2017!
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#ewp61 #ifpb61 #eyewitnesspalestine #togetherwerise

➡ Hebron / Al-Khalil, Palestine (Israeli occupied West Bank)
In this #throwbackthursday, we go all the way back to last week when the @ifpbdelegations journey was in #Hebron/Al-Khalil. ・・・ Repost from @stevepavey:
In Hebron, we bore witness to so much suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the cruel Israeli apartheid / settler regime .... but then there were also moments like this bearing witness to human connections - of smiles shared between Palestinian children meeting two amazing organizers from the #ifpb61 delegation. Watch out Atlanta - this dynamic duo returning home soon !! #becominghuman
#hopeinfocus
#Palestine
#decolonize
#tbt
#travel
#travelwithpurpose
#travelforgood
#solidarity

➡ Palestine (Israeli occupied West Bank)
This photo of a Palestinian thistle was snapped by @fortunadivineytrixx during the May 2017 delegation to Palestine/Israel.
The final set of reflections from the delegation has dropped! Read them here ▶▶▶
https://org2.salsalabs.com/o/7169/t/0/blastContent.jsp?email_blast_KEY=1394042 ◀◀◀ The delegation, co-sponsored by @ifpbdelegations , @codepinkalert, and @dcipalestine , returned this weekend after spending more than 10 days investigating incarceration, detention, and political prisoners in Palestine/Israel (among other issues). #ifpb61
#dheisheh
#deheisheh
#hebron
#Palestine
#travel
#travelwithpurpose
#travelforgood
#travelandlearn
#solidarity
#thistle ・・・ Repost from @fortunadivineytrixx:
Milk thistle grows wildly n abundantly through out #Palestine
Its vibrant and odd form attracted my attention
someone helped me identify them
Learned their alluring form indeed attracts the eye to deeper, extensive medicinal uses we should all be tapping into
The resilient life force in Palestine speaks through the blossoms of healing flowers. They need not ask permission to grow
Their medicine knows the laws of
nature
And defies the laws of man

➡ Jerusalem
The May 2017 @ifpbdelegations journey has finished, but we're sharing a few more images from the final days. Here, delegate @_badgalmiri translates for her mentor, Reuven Abergiel, co-founder of the Israeli Black Panthers. ・・・ Repost from @stevepavey:
One of the founders of the Black Panthers of Israel, a Mizrahi Jew, who was moved to Israel from Morocco in 1948, tells us about the socio-economic inequality within Israels history/present -- challenging the lies of the Zionist narratives that turned his people against Arabs to support the West (including Germany) - why he asks? The lies and manipulation of the Zionist project!!! #ifpb61 delegation
#resistempire
#blackpanther
#pantherpower

➡ Hebron, Palestine
The @ifpbdelegations trip has concluded, but some delegates remain in Palestine. @stevepavey posted this shot from #Hebron / Al-Khalil on the first day if #Ramadan. ・・・ Repost from @stevepavey:
Ramadan Mubarak - first day of Ramadan in the old city of Hebron and the spirit cannot be squelched by IOF soldiers and settlers
#ramadammubarak
#ramadaninpalestine
#ifpb61

➡ Alsra unrecognized village, Negev (Naqab) Desert in #Palestine/Israel
The Bedouin lands of the Negev are unrecognized by Israel. The indigenous Palestinian Bedouin are viewed as trespassers as Israel creates laws to dispossess them of their lands.
The village of Alsra lies here, where a sign they created themselves reads in Hebrew - "established at the time of the Ottoman Empire". He laughs. Our Bedouin host, Khalil, tells us we must put ourselves on the map. "Our fight is for our bare recognition to exist". #ifpb61 delegation
#IndigenousRights
#Decolonize
#HopeInFocus ・・・ #Repost from @stevepavey

WATCH ---> On the 40th day of hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel, @ifpbdelegations members take the SALT WATER CHALLENGE.
The delegation, co-sponsored by @codepinkalert and @dcipalestine, is in Palestine/Israel to examine how issues of incarceration, detention, and political prisoners (as well as other issues) affect the prospects for justice and peace.
Delegates challenge YOU to engage!
WATCH AND SHARE ▶▶▶ go.ifpb.org/SaltWaterChallenge ◀◀◀ #ifpb61
#dignitystrike
#dignitystrike40
#BDS4dignitystrike

WATCH ---> On the 40th day of hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners incarcerated by Israel, @ifpbdelegations members take the SALT WATER CHALLENGE.
The delegation, co-sponsored by @codepinkalert and @dcipalestine, is in Palestine/Israel to examine how issues of incarceration, detention, and political prisoners (as well as other issues) affect the prospects for justice and peace.
Delegates challenge YOU to engage!
WATCH AND SHARE ▶▶▶ go.ifpb.org/SaltWaterChallenge ◀◀◀ #ifpb61
#dignitystrike
#dignitystrike40
#BDS4dignitystrike

▶ Ramallah, #Palestine
Today marks the 40th day of hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
@ifpbdelegations member, Angela, stands with the mother of a Palestinian political prisoner in Ramallah. Her son, Mahmoud, undertook a solo hunger strike in February 2017. His only demand was that he be detained inside the occupied Palestinian territory, so that his mother, who has health issues, would not be subjected to the exhausting full-day ordeal that family members of a prisoner have to endure in order to get a 45-minute visit with their loved ones,conducted behind plexiglass, if they even get in at all.
Since Mahmoud began his hunger strike, his mother has not seen or heard anything about him. She does not even know where he is being held. Mahmoud's demand was not an outrageous or unreasonable one. In fact, Israel has a legal obligation to jail occupied persons inside the occupied territory, and NOT transfer them into Israel. To do otherwise is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Yet, an overwhelming majority of Palestinian prisoners are jailed inside Israel.
#DignityStrike
#dignitystrike40
#freeallpoliticalprisoners
#ramallah
#ifpb61 ・・・ #Repost @huwaidaarraf (@get_repost)

#Palestine: Looking over Um al-Hiran's demolished homes and structures with groundwork for a new Israeli settlement in the background.
Israeli colonization in Palestine takes many forms but one thing is always the same: Palestinians are the victims. #settlercolonialism
#IFPB61
#blurredlines ・・・ #Repost from @baparkr

@ifpbdelegations participants see Israeli colonization from multiple angles - from the overall system of control down to the deeply personal.
To understand #Palestine, one must see the reality faced by those in the cities, and those in villages on the margins where Israeli settlements and settler violence dominates every aspect of life.
Here #IFPB61 delegates tour the Palestinian village of Beit Ummar and learn how neighboring illegal Israeli settlements impact the community.
#decolonize
#decolonizethisplace
#travelwithpurpose
#travelforgood
#workforjustice
#ifpb61 ・・・ #Repost from @baparkr

One of the founders of the Black Panthers of Israel, a Mizrahi Jew, who was moved to Israel from Morocco in 1948, tells us about the socio-economic inequality within Israels history/present -- challenging the lies of the Zionist narratives that turned his people against Arabs to support the West (including Germany) - why he asks? The lies and manipulation of the Zionist project!!! #ifpb61 delegation #resistempire

#IFPB61 delegate, Angela, stands with the mother of a Palestinian political prisoner in Ramallah. Her son, Mahmoud, undertook a solo hunger strike in February 2017. His only demand was that he be detained inside the occupied Palestinian territory, so that his mother, who has health issues, would not be subjected to the exhausting full-day ordeal that family members of a prisoner have to endure in order to get a 45-minute visit with their loved ones,conducted behind plexiglass, if they even get in at all.
Since Mahmoud began his hunger strike, his mother has not seen or heard anything about him. She does not even know where he is being held. Mahmoud's demand was not an outrageous or unreasonable one. In fact, Israel has a legal obligation to jail occupied persons inside the occupied territory, and NOT transfer them into Israel. To do otherwise is a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Yet, an overwhelming majority of Palestinian prisoners are jailed inside Israel. #DignityStrike

regram @stevepavey
Palestinian refugees are the largest and longest standing unresolved refugee group in the world -- displaced as a result of a Zionist-Israeli settler colonial strategy of taking the maximum area of land with the minimum of Palestinians. -- nearly 8 million Palestinian refugees #rightofreturn #Decolonize #freepalestine -- #ifpb61 delegation

Love this shot. For more great photos from Palestine, check out @ifpbdelegations and give a follow ;) @stevepavey captured this shot of a Palestinian friend during the @ifpbdelegations stay in Deheisheh Refugee Camp. On the wall behind him is a #banksy original.
Palestinian refugees are the largest and longest standing unresolved refugee group in the world -- displaced as a result of a Zionist-Israeli settler colonial strategy of taking the maximum area of land with the minimum of Palestinians. -- nearly 8 million Palestinian refugees.
This month, Palestinians mark the 69th year of their #nakba -- the catastrophe when they were forced to flee their homes and live in exile. Palestinian refugees like this teen grow up with stories of their original villages and an understanding of their internationally recognized right to return and restitution.
#rightofreturn #Decolonize #freepalestine
#refugees
#deheisheh
#travel
#travelwithpurpose
#ifpb61 delegation ・・・ #Repost from @stevepavey

#IFPB61 delegates meet with @dcipalestine's Hebron staff to learn more about the situation of Palestinian children's rights in Hebron.
Defense for Children International - Palestine is one of the delegation's sponsors along with @ifpbdelegations and @codepinkalert. Check out their excellent work at ▶▶▶ www.dci-Palestine.org ◀◀◀ #children
#childrensrights
#Palestine
#travelwithpurpose
#travelforgood ・・・ #Repost from @baparkr

Suhaib, member of @ifpbdelegations #ifpb61 delegation, is a US citizen, born in Jordan to a Palestinian family that was dispossessed of their land in the 1948 #Nakba/Catastrophe.
He overlooks the landscape of #Lifta village from within an ancient mosque and village that was destroyed by #Israel.
Lifta is one of over 500 Palestinian communities depopulated and destroyed by Israel in 1948 and subsequent years. The people who were forced to flee their homes now live in Palestinian Refugee Camps and in the diaspora waiting for their right to return and claim restitution for what they lost in the tragedy.
#RightToReturn
#Decolonize
#ResistEmpire
#refugees
#refugeestories
#Palestine ・・・ #Repost from @stevepavey

In Hebron, we bore witness to so much suffering of the Palestinian people at the hands of the cruel Israeli apartheid / settler regime .... but then there were also moments like this bearing witness to human connections - of smiles shared between Palestinian children meeting two amazing organizers from the #ifpb61 delegation. Watch out Atlanta - this dynamic duo returning home soon !! #becominghuman #hopeinfocus #Palestine #decolonize

Eyewitness Palestine delegates from the 2018 Justice Delegation, as well as delegation leaders Huwaida Arraf and Jamil Dakwar, signed onto this letter of over 100 lawyers and advocates to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing concern over Israel's policy of detaining and denying entry to human rights advocates.

Eyewitness Palestine delegate Paula Kahn is the co-founder of the recently launched CosmoVisiones Ancestrales who is hosting a caravan to bring her fellow co-founders to educate Californians on the local issues they face as members of indigenous communities in Latin America and how ending the war on drugs is integral to indigenous rights and environmental protection.

Portland, OR; San Francisco, CA; Los Angeles, CA; etc I Demonstrations Against Family Separation and the Criminalization of Immigrants

Eyewitness Palestine delegates joined hundreds of thousands of people around the United States to demand an end to the Trump Administration's family separation policy and call for an end to the racist policies of the Immigration and Custom Enforcements agency.

Eyewitness Palestine delegate Emma Johnson speaks to community members at the Islamic Center of Midland, Michigan about her experiences and reflections of the Incarceration, Detention & Political Prisoners delegation, co-sponsored by Defense for Children International - Palestine and CODEPINK: Women For Peace.

Eyewitness Palestine delegate William Ruhm recently returned to the US from IFPB’s delegation investigating Incarceration, Detention and Political Prisoners. His article, “With steadfastness: a report from Palestine” has been published in Mondoweiss and can be read by clicking on the link below.

Eyewitness Accounts from the Delegation

I see a nation stained with the blood of their brother. I see people flooding into the holy sites to find God without pity or remorse for the Palestinian genocide that is being supported through their churches and tithe. I have a question for the Zionists and the Evangelicals, what will you do if the God of Israel is not the God of the “uniquely Israeli people” of which the court found no proof, but the God of the people who are being murdered and pillaged?

During our trip, all who spoke to us chose their words deliberately and explained why they selected one word over another. It had its effect. Those of us who previously referred to a "security fence" soon shifted to refer to such a barrier as an "apartheid fence."

In this bizarre thing we call life, less than 10 hours after I returned from Palestine, I attended a Bat Mitzvah for a 71-year-old friend at the Romemu synagogue on 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan.

Before I left on this trip to East Jerusalem and the West Bank, someone asked me if I would be presented a balanced view. “Balanced” is a code (tip-off) that a person is unaware (clueless) of the Apartheid here.

The visit by our group to the al-Naqab Desert produced some very valuable information. Our visit with a Palestinian Bedouin village laid out in stark clarity the oppression faced in the area. Israel has taken over much of the land, and co-opted even the traditional names of the villages in the Naqab. The Israelis call the desert the Negev, and now assert their identity on the region which was once entirely Palestinian Bedouin. It is an arid region where few ventured prior to the 1948 Nakba.

Military presence and eclectic reading. In Palestine/Israel, myriad soldiers with machine guns inhabit the public spaces. I wasn't used to the military in the forefront of my environment. With only 1 percent of the U.S. population serving in the military, national service seems abstract, out of sight and out of mind. But in Israel, everyone is required to serve for three years.

When Israel takes bold actions, it is often in the name of security. The wall between the West Bank and the internationally recognized border of Israel (note: Israel, continually confiscating more territory in its bid to expand, does not recognize this border) was erected supposedly for security. Gaza is under blockade for Israel's security.

Our first homestay was in the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. When we arrived in the afternoon, we were given an introduction and tour by several young men who work with the organization LAYLAC: The Palestinian Youth Action Center for Community Development.

Reflection after a home stay at the Dheisheh Refugee Camp and after stops at striking prison support tents in Bethlehem and Ramallah: While in Bethlehem we visited LAYLAC: The Palestinian Youth Action Center for Community Development that adjoins the Dheisheh Refugee Camp, one of the camps Palestinian refugees were forced to live in after 1948.

Two of us had been invited to spend the night at the home of Naji Owdah at the Dheisheh Refugee Camp. As he lead us into the house he said: "We'll close the windows at night in case of a tear gas attack." A normal enough warning considering the circumstances under which Palestinians live.

I grew up wondering how the holocaust could have happened. As a child, I could not understand why no one stopped it. (Children can think quite clearly at times.) Sadly, I learned later that most Germans and most of the rest of the world were silent. They did not know or didn't want to know what was happening, despite the evidence all around them.

Just before I left on this trip with Interfaith Peacebuilders, I received the publication "Oneing" that I had ordered from The Center for Action and Contemplation, founded by Fransican priest Richard Rohr. As I was anxious about the trip, I thought bringing something inspirational would bolster me through whatever we might encounter. The latest volume of collected essays happened to have the theme "Transformation."

There is much to write about this trip. We are spending much of our time in the West Bank. The theme of this delegation is "Incarceration, Detention and Political Prisoners." I will write more later about what we've seen & heard in Jerusalem, Yafa, Tel Aviv, Ramallah, Hebron, Naqab (Negev) Desert, and Bethlehem. But at this time I want to write about how I see the conflict with an analogy of family.

During the days of early national socialism, Nazi Germany spread a message that the Jewish people were evil, sub-human and all sorts of criminals based on their ethnicity. The sad reality is that message has been used against the Arab people and the Palestinian people, especially, so that their cries for help are ignored. Often collectively referenced as terrorists, they have become the definition of a stereotype.

Overwhelming trip. Proud and thankful to be a part of THIS delegation. This doesn't feel like a vacation; it feels like a big responsibility. Huge realization: Israel considers any Palestinian defiance illegal... No wonder so many Palestinians are in Israeli jails.

Half of the Palestinian population is under 18. With so many of the Palestinian population this young, one can only look forward with optimism. The Palestinians are among the most highly educated people in the world. However, leading this statistic, it is the girls that are becoming highly educated, while the boys are less likely to go to university.

EDITORS NOTE: This twitter story from delegate @FalafelDad describes some of the challenges of Palestinian youth, systematically criminalized and incarcerated by Israeli occupying forces and police. The tweets below feature the delegation’s visit to the Al-Fara’a Prison, a former detention facility where Israeli occupying soldiers held Palestinian minors:

EDITORS NOTE: Donald Trump arrived in Israel on Monday, on the 36th day of the hunger strike initiated by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Palestinians responded by fasting in solidarity, calling a general strike, and holding a day of demonstrations in many cities and towns.

I had dinner last night in West Jerusalem with a colleague from Ben Gurion University. West Jerusalem, seen from the vantage of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, is a study in uneven development. Theaters and concert halls, private institutes and libraries, museums of Islamic arts, the Knesset--which proudly occupies a high point in the city—and restaurants full of well-dressed cosmopolitan and secular Israelis consuming pork and shellfish, which figures prominently on the menu.

Now I am able to realize a “wish” of nearly 50 years - to come to Palestine and see this “beautiful country” and its brilliant, resilient people. But I must reckon with the reality that being here is largely a matter of privilege - as a white, Ashkenazi Jewish middle-class woman with a U.S. passport.

I was surprised to learn that Israel has two separate court systems: the normal justice system for Israeli citizens and a military justice system for the Palestinian population under military occupation.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Delegate @FalafelDad is a Palestinian-American university student. The following is his live recounting of an experience he had when he went to the Al Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem to pray the traditional morning prayers.

The wall, like the Berlin Wall, is a wall of oppression. Having seen it and how it weaves throughout the West Bank, it is clear that it does not provide security but instead oppression, intimidation, economic hardship and the related dependence on foreign aid, and land theft. It is the Dispossession Wall.

As our delegation traveled around East Jerusalem, my heart repeatedly sank with grief. My heart sank with grief as we learned of Israel’s repeated expulsions of the Palestinian population from their homes and neighborhoods in and around Jerusalem, to make space for new Jewish neighborhoods and settlements beyond the internationally recognized Green Line.

Transiting through Frankfurt my Verizon message service greeted me with a "Welcome to Germany!" Entering Tel Aviv I saw "Welcome to Israel"! But entering the West Bank the day we drove to Ramallah the message read "Welcome to Jordan!" What? Is Palestine disappearing?

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We invite delegation participants to comment on and react to their experiences in Palestine/Israel in these eyewitness accounts. Rather than comprehensive accounts of every meeting or experience, these are impressions of individual experiences. Submitted accounts may be edited for clarity or brevity.

Eyewitness accounts do not necessarily reflect the views of Eyewitness Palestine or delegation partner organizations. We hope you enjoy reading and we encourage you toshare these reflections with others.

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Founded in 2001, Eyewitness Palestine works to build movements of solidarity with grassroots struggles for justice in Palestine/Israel. Your journey for justice with Palestinian and Israeli peace-builders starts here!